You can tell the success of the weekend by the length of Eli Tomac's quote in the Yamaha post-race press releases. At RedBud, Tomac’s bike let go while running third in the first moto, which left him with a terrible gate pick for the second moto, which led to a terrible start and seventh-place finish. That left him 13^th overall. It also knocked Tomac from second to fourth in the 450 Pro Motocross standings.

“It was a tough weekend for us,” Tomac said. “We’ll regroup and finish better in Millville.”

That is all. The hits kept coming for Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing because after Tomac’s bike let go, Cooper Webb’s machine ran out of gas! Webb was already hurting a bit after twisting his knee in qualifying, but the 2025 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Champion lined up and battled back from a early-race crash, only to not make it to the finish, anyway. He finished eighth in moto two, and now has to get the knee checked out to make sure he’s okay.

“It was an up-and-down day at RedBud,” said Webb. “I felt great in practice, and on the last turn of my good lap, I ripped my left leg off the footpeg and caught my knee pretty bad, which wasn’t great. Then in the first moto, I ended up crashing in turn two, right off the start. I was dead last with my bars and clutch bent, but I made a hard push to get myself into 10th before my bike ran out of fuel in the last turn. In Moto 2, it was just a bad start, but I rode really well and ran seventh until Eli got me late in the moto, and I finished eighth. Overall, it was a very rough day physically and mentally, but my riding was good. I’m going to get my knee checked out on Monday to make sure that we are all good.”

The Star Racing squad pushes strength in numbers, though, so even with Webb and Tomac facing bad luck, Justin Cooper still made it a good day by leading 450 moto two, finishing third overall and taking over third in the standings.

“It was not an ideal day for us with Eli’s bike issue in the first moto, along with Webb running out of fuel just short of the finish,” said Team Manager Rich Simmons. “Justin getting on the podium was definitely a huge positive on a day like this. The team did a great job with the quick turnaround between motos to get the bikes ready and make the needed adjustments.”

Simmons mentions the quick turnaround, which included swapping not only Tomac’s busted engine for the second moto, but doing the same for Cooper as a precaution. What happened to Tomac’s bike? Teams don’t usually know at the track because they simply ditch the blown engine for a new one and then diagnose, later, but one can theorize. This year’s RedBud track was extra hard on bikes in general. A lot of riders commented on the track prep being even deeper and heavier than usual, which puts a big strain on engines. Also, some explained that the ruts were more difficult to navigate than usual.

“The ruts were deep but super straight, if that makes sense,” said Hunter Lawrence. “Normally national ruts are cut in at more of an angle. The track was just super deep and heavy, really heavy.”

“I have the same comments,” said Justin Cooper. “I felt like you couldn’t use momentum that you had coming off the straights. It stood you up and then you had to ride the clutch a little bit. It was standing us up in the turns, which is not like usual.”

Ah yes, the clutch. No one abuses a clutch in the 450 class like Tomac. Throw in those conditions, plus high heat and humidity, and we might have found the cause of his trouble.

Justin Cooper, then, gets to be the top dog on his team for the weekend. He’s now leading his star-studded squad in points, plus he was the top American rider on the 450 podium, which is worth some extra cheers on RedBud’s July 4^th weekend.

“It was a good day at RedBud,” said Cooper. “I felt like we got the bike dialed in right away. In the first moto, I didn’t get the best of starts but made some passes and got up to fourth. I made a run at third, but I tried really hard to get up there, so I was a little bit tired. Then in Moto 2, I got a better start, made my way into the lead, and led for about 10 minutes. Being an American and leading here in front of these fans – it’s a good vibe. It kind of sends chills down your back when you get into the lead at RedBud and everyone’s screaming, yelling, and blowing the air horns. Overall, it was a really good day for me. I felt good on the bike and finished second for third overall. Let’s carry the momentum into next weekend.”

One thing Cooper does caution, though, is saying he’s now surpassed his teammates. He was asked about that in the post-race press conference.

“I wouldn’t say I’m surpassing them by any means, but I feel like I’m right there,” said Cooper. “Definitely the team is giving us all the same effort, They want to see the best from me and I want to see the best from myself. Yeah, definitely trending the right direction.”

The right direction for Cooper is up in the standings. He’s now just 14 points behind teammate Webb in the combined SMX standings, closing from a deficit of over 80 points when Pro Motocross began. Aaron Plessinger was close but had a bad RedBud due to illness, so he's way back in third. Cooper could very likely be the number-one seed come September.

That comes later. For now the focus is on Millville this Saturday. Tomac won a moto at High Point, but the last two races have not been up to his usual standards? Can Tomac return with a vengeance at Millville? Will Webb's knee check out okay?

Meanwhile, in the 250s, you can pretty much count on Haiden Deegan rebounding soon after his own rough weekend at RedBud. A crash in practice left him with a bone bruise in his leg, which was aggravated by more crashes in moto one, then his bike looked to be running hot also….he finished 14^th. Second moto was better with a late rally to second.

“I was a little beat up,” said Deegan. “The track was rough, and the pain was gnarly going through all those bumps. It is what it is. On days like this, we need to recover through the races and try our best. We get to leave with a big points lead. We’ll hopefully come out swinging next weekend.” 

We’ll report more on Mosiman’s great story in landing a 250 podium for the team. For now, Yamaha’s strength in numbers paid off with two podiums on a day with a ton of troubles. If you’re Tomac and Deegan, though, the podium is a must this weekend.